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 Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:37 am
~~~*Day 34: Departure*~~~
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:52 am
Depressed. Disheartened. Disappointed. Distraught. How many ways could Carmine describe her feelings right now? Her vocabulary hadn't been enough to cover it so she'd needed to steal some words from Lorenna.
The pink maned mare laughed in spite of herself. She could steal words right out of her friend's mouth but not a bunch of decrepit old ruins? What sort of sick joke was that? The bags hanging around her neck were heavy, not with the gold or jewels she had hoped to find but with regret. She'd found only one thing the entire trip and that was on the first day there. The only that really seemed to have any luck was Beryl.
"Loreeenna." She whined gently headbutting the flutter's neck. "Renna let's not go after treasures when we aren't sure they exist again kaaay?" It was too much walking to have to go through all of this again.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:40 pm
Lorenna didn't know what to say to Carmine. She wasn't any happier about the situation. She hadn't really been expecting mountains of untouched treasure but she had been expecting far more than the handful of trinkets they had come across. Out of all of them the happiest seemed to be Wolf who had found nothing but plant life, snake scales, bird feathers and a tuft of fur from some wild animal.
She took a purposeful step away from Carmine to make her stop leaning. It was upsetting Lorenna's center of balance and making it difficult to walk. "By that I assume you mean to only go after treasures we scout from the humans?" She didn't need to look at the crimson marked mare to know that was exactly what she was thinking. "Of course it is."
Lorenna sighed and came to a stop to speak to Carmine more directly. "Look, Carmine, I want you to understand something very serious." she said solemnly. "All of you should probably listen to what I have to say as well." None of this was easy for her to say and it probably wasn't going to be easy for the others to swallow. "I've been doing a great deal of thinking, mostly about the intake of the Under Ground. You see, most of what we have was obtained from the humans, correct? Unfortunately what they have been making recently is not what we generally consider valuable. There just isn't a way to continue our habits without running our source dry."
She waited for a moment to let the information sink in. "In other words, if we want to keep in business we're going to have to focus on obtaining new clientele or finding a new source of valuables instead of the village. This place was...well let's face the facts it was a bust. So we're going to have to keep looking. There is no room to simply fall back into old routines at the moment."
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:53 am
Contrary to Carmine's depression, Beryl had a spring in her step and a smile on her face. The light glittered merrily off her new ornaments, decorations in silver and sapphire now adorning her body. It wasn't the mountains of treasure that she had hoped to find, but it was enough to make her feel luxurious and successful. "Well, I don't think it was a bad trip!" she chimed in. She couldn't help but rub it in a little. "You just had to look hard enough and treasure was there!"
"Yeah, I think it was great!" Slipsand was also all smiles. With each step she dragged along a rusted piece of... something. Pieces of her "treasure" had fallen off along the way but it was still an impressively twisted piece of rusted metal. Even though no one had yet been able to identify it, she was convinced it was something truly special. She could feel it in her bones, and it had to be something wonderful if it was in a place like this! "Don't be sad, Carmine! I'll give you the next thing I find in the water!"
Xelloss hung around back with Othelia, looking his usual cryptic self. His bag was stuffed with something that none of the other Underground had yet seen. In reality, he had just put whatever little pieces of rubble and junk he could find in there. He had found Lord Beastmaster on this trip, a far greater treasure than a mountain of gold and gems. He didn't need to get clues from broken rocks when he could get words straight from the source. He picked things up just to keep the Underground guessing. They knew he came here looking for something. If they didn't think he'd found anything, there would be questions.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:37 am
Carmine grimaced. There was just a whole lot of bad things surrounding her at the moment. Beryl was gloating. Slipsand was offering to find her some random piece of scrap. Lorenna was berating her about their financial troubles. Carmine's wings rustled irritably. By the time Lorenna was done speaking she snapped.
"Enough!" She shouted glaring around at her friends. They really knew exactly how to make everything worse for her didn't they? Some friends they were. Some trip this was. "I don't want to hear it right now!." In a huff she stormed off down the path muttering under her breath. She just wanted to be home and forget about this glaring failure of hers.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:50 am
Othelia blinked in wonder as Carmine stomped off. She had seen the mare upset before but that usually ended with her whining about everything to Lorenna. This was the first time Othelia could recall Carmine actually getting mad at them.
She frowned and glanced at Xelloss. Perhaps she was not the only one that had been changed by this trip. She was probably the only one that had find out that she was something else though. Making a quiet huffing sound with her nose she began following after Carmine only to stop 7 steps down the trail.
Othelia's entire body tensed as she dropped her head. Her eyes narrowed, her ears went back and she snarled hissing lowly. Something was coming their way. She could smell it on the breeze.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 10:00 am
It hadn't taken Lord Hellmaster to find the bunch of thieves, they weren't exactly stealthy or subtle. They left tracks everywhere and didn't bother to keep their voices down. It was a good thing that their ability to move undetected had nothing to do with his plan. He had watched them wander off down a path on their way out of the ruins and decided to meet them along the way. He couldn't just expect Xelloss to do all of the work.
When he heard them approaching he shifted to make himself no larger than a foal before waiting for his moment. That moment came when their leader, a mare appropriately called Carmine broke away from the group. He wasted no time in dashing out of his hiding place to race off down the path heading directly towards the mare. It seemed as though he had timed it perfectly because without even needing to veer into her they collided.
Phibrizzo fell to the ground with a small cry of surprise and judging by the solid thud the mare had taken to the dirt as well. Perfect.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 11:32 am
Beryl could certainly be mean, but she didn't usually like being mean to her friends. She hadn't realized the extent of Carmine's unhappiness until she was storming off. She felt a stab of guilt that made her want to stuff all her jewelry back into her bag. It was strange to see Carmine like this and Beryl found it to be a sobering experience. She took a hesitant step, internally debating whether or not to follow. Then, Carmine collided with the foal.
"What the heck?" Beryl's initial reaction was pure surprise. Of all the random things that happened to them, this was high on the list. "Are you guys ok?" She hurried to their sides and blinked down at the two soquili sprawled on the ground. There were some really strange wings on that foal.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 11:36 am
Like everyone else, Slipsand was shocked. She hadn't seen any soquili that wasn't part of their group in some time... and now Carmine was trampling one! She was concerned for Carmine, of course, but the foal was probably a lot more fragile. "Oh no!" She joined Beryl's side and stared. "Does anyone need a unicorn? I could find a unicorn... somewhere." If someone had broken a leg she was determined not to rest until she found the closest unicorn in the jungle. Her rusted piece of metal lay on the ground where she had dropped it, utterly forgotten in the agitation.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 11:41 am
Xelloss didn't rush forward along with Beryl and Slipsand. His eyes were wide open and fixed on the "foal" that Carmine had just blundered into. If the foal was who he suspected, it had been no accident. He didn't want to believe that he recognized the small stallion, but the wings were incredibly memorable. He could barely see the small figure now, but those wings still flickered and pulsed. However much he might want to believe otherwise, he had no doubt that he was looking upon Hellmaster Phibrizzo.
What strange fate it was that he should see Xellas and then Phibrizzo in such swift succession after not having set eyes on a mazoku lord for years. It was not a coincidence, he was sure. He felt a chill in wondering what Hellmaster might be doing here. Was he about to witness the deaths of the ones he had spent the past few months traveling with?
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 3:54 pm
Carmine found that her unhappiness seemed like a trivial matter when she suddenly found herself kissing dirt. What had hit her? Groaning she rolled until her feet were under her and not sprawling out in every direction. It was easier said than done as she seemed to have gotten tangled up with whatever had knocked her down in the first place.
"I don't need a unicorn." She moaned trying to get Slipsand to settle. Her running off and getting lost would only make things even worse and she was quite convinced that things could and would get worse for them. She had, after all, just gotten knocked over by some random...
Foal. Carmine stared. A foal. A kalona and flutter foal had come out of nowhere and knocked her over. "The heck's a kid doing all the way out here?!" She asked suddenly. Not bothering to ask if he was okay. He didn't look particularly injured.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:00 pm
Lorenna watched the strange incident play out with a raised eyebrow but the concern she was feeling about the situation was more accurately voiced by Carmine. What was a foal doing out here? Was he even a foal at all? She could see his wings flickering and changing like they were made of nothing but wind and shadow. What was he? The shape was like her own wings, was he a flutter? A flutter and a kalona, how perverse.
"Yes, what is a child doing all the way out here? We're pretty far removed from safe havens don't you think?" She asked coldly approaching the apparent foal. His safety was definitely the least of her concern. The safety of the Under Ground members, however, was at the forefront of her mind.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:10 pm
Othelia didn't budge as most of the others stepped forward nor had she stopped snarling. She didn't have a good feeling about this and she figured she knew exactly why this was. The wings that flickered and lost pieces only for those pieces to vanish. The unusual markings. The fact that Xelloss had frozen. The others may have noticed the wings but it was the other details that seemed more important to Othelia.
This foal, if he was a foal, was probably mazoku. Another one.
Othelia's snarl slowly began to vanish though she did not stop glaring at the blue flutter-kalona. It occurred to her that continuing to act overly violent might be a bad idea. What if this one was on friendly terms with the giant female she had encountered at the ruins? She could end up as lunch. A pure blooded anything was unlikely to favor a half-blood like she was.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:20 pm
Well now that he had everyone's attention it was time to get them on his schedule. He could hear the skepticism from two of the mares, the one he had crashed into and the one that seemed suspicious of everything as he righted himself and got to his feet. Yes, he was definitely going to need Xelloss's assistance with this bunch.
Once standing he opened his eyes, wide, bright and long-lashed, and looked around at the group the picture of innocence. He spotted Xelloss immediately standing away from the others. Good, he really was traveling with them.
"I-I'm really sorry miss." He said directing his attention to Carmine his ears going back nervously. "I didn't see you there." Once more he looked around at the ground and shifted his weight uneasily. "I...I was just in such a rush to get back...I guess I wasn't paying much attention." He offered with a small smile.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 8:49 am
Beryl immediately noticed his kalona tail and horns. Not only had Carmine nearly trampled a kid, she had nearly trampled a funny looking flutter-kalona kid. His wings really were something else. She almost felt herself being hypnotized while staring at them. The only similarity between them and her own blue wings was the general shape. She couldn't even tell if they'd be solid to touch.
"You don't happen to have a big mean kalona mommy around here somewhere, d'you?" she asked. Glancing back at Xelloss and Othelia, she shrugged. "Not to say that all kalona are jerks... we just don't wanna run into the ones that would eat us."
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